Messaging system and service
First Claim
1. A method of modifying a message sent through a data communications network, the message including transmission data identifying one or more destinations of said message and a message body identifying content thereof which is specified by a sending party, the method including:
- identifying a recipient of said message on the basis of the transmission data;
selecting data, in response to receiving a said message, on the basis of the identified recipient, wherein the said selected data are not directly related to the content of the message;
appending the selected data to the message content such that the message body is modified; and
transmitting the modified message to said one or more destinations in accordance with the transmission data.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the invention are concerned with modification of messages en route to a destination. One such modification is the addition of third party material, such as advertisement data, to a message. Conventionally, such a modification of messages occurs in accordance with some input from the sender of the message, and, to enable the sender to indicate the nature of the desired modification, the terminal corresponding to the sender has to be equipped with bespoke software. A service located in the network then receives the sender'"'"'s message and decodes the indicated modification in order to decide how to modify the message. When there are many subscribers to this service, each terminal needs to be adapted to allow indication of the desired modification to the message, and, if the adaptation is made by pushing data to such terminals over the network, this presents problems in terms of scalability and network traffic. In one aspect of the invention embodiments provide a method of modifying a message sent through a data communications network, the message including transmission data identifying one or more destinations of said message and a message body identifying content thereof which is specified by a sending party, the method including: selecting data, in response to receiving a said message, on the basis of at least one parameter that is not directly related to the location of the sending party, wherein the said selected data are not directly related to the content of the message; modifying said message so as to include the selected data therein; and transmitting the modified message to said one or more destinations in accordance with the transmission data. Thus in embodiments of the invention, decisions as to the nature of the modification of the message are made in accordance with a parameter that is unrelated to messages that are composed by die user, and thus no modifications are required to be made to subscriber'"'"'s terminals.
277 Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of modifying a message sent through a data communications network, the message including transmission data identifying one or more destinations of said message and a message body identifying content thereof which is specified by a sending party, the method including:
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identifying a recipient of said message on the basis of the transmission data;
selecting data, in response to receiving a said message, on the basis of the identified recipient, wherein the said selected data are not directly related to the content of the message;
appending the selected data to the message content such that the message body is modified; and
transmitting the modified message to said one or more destinations in accordance with the transmission data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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10-11. -11. (canceled)
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20-25. -25. (canceled)
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26. A store-and-forward network system arranged to store a data message, the data message comprising transmission data identifying at least one recipient of said data message and a message body identifying content thereof which is specified by a sending party, the store-and-forward network system being arranged to forward the same to the identified recipient in dependence on status data corresponding to a terminal associated therewith, the store-and-forward network system comprising:
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selection means arranged to select data on the basis of the identified recipient;
a message modifier, arranged, in response to receiving a said data message, to append the selected data to the message content such that the message body is modified wherein the said selected data are not directly related to the content of the message;
a signal monitor arranged to monitor for a signal indicative of the status of the terminal associated with the recipient of said modified data message; and
a message transmitter arranged to transmit said stored message in response to receipt of a transmission trigger signal. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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28. (canceled)
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29. A method of modifying a message sent through a data communications network, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a second network node, a message from a first network node, the message having a message body comprising first data, and transmission data identifying a destination of said message, wherein the first data have been created by an information service;
selecting second data, in response to receiving said message on the basis of the destination of the message;
appending the second data to the first data such that the message body is modified; and
transmitting the modified message to said destination in accordance with the transmission data. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40)
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33-35. -35. (canceled)
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39. (canceled)
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41-44. -44. (canceled)
Specification